Better Times Will Return textile art piece

This is the piece that we call ‘Better Times Will Return’. It is a piece that we commissioned from the textile artist Josie Russell.

Josie is based in North Wales and lives in Snowdonia. She is a young girl whose name is becoming well known worldwide for her talent in recreating landscapes etc. by recycling pieces of a variety of materials, mainly fabrics. Josie is extremely busy all year round preparing pieces for the large number of Craft Fairs and Gallery Displays that she attends, mainly here in North Wales.

More and more of her time is spent creating pieces to customers’ specific requests. She has a long waiting list for such pieces due to the number of requests. Josie is extremely thorough in fulfilling each request to the exact specifications of each customer.

We first requested a picture of a caravan site in Snowdonia. Such was the success of that commission that we decided to plan a further request!

We, as a group, depend largely on a website called RxISK.org for our information and support. Currently, Rxisk is running a Prize Fund Campaign, the monies raised from which will be used in the search for a cure for the very worst and most debilitating side effects which some patients are left with following their time on antidepressants or other psychotropic prescribed drugs.

Our plan was to ask Josie to create a scene for us which would support the aim of the prize fund. We would then auction the piece and the winner of that piece would pay direct to the Rxisk fund. In other words, rather than just making a donation to Rxisk, we worked out a way of, hopefully, making our money work in a more beneficial way which would help boost the prize fund.

The instructions given to Josie were that we’d like a rising sun in a typical North Wales landscape. We’d like it mounted but unframed. Obviously, the size was also suggested. Since one of us is Welsh speaking, we thought it would be good to include a Welsh idiom in the piece – which Josie was able to include for us. That idiom, roughly translated, means ‘BETTER TIMES WILL RETURN’. A literal translation would be ‘Again the sun will shine on the hillside’ – hence the choice of scene.

The piece is absolutely stunning. A picture does not do justice to the intricate use of minor details and choice of fabrics etc. The auction was extremely successful and a good amount was raised for the RxISK Prize Fund.

We are STILL in the process of raising monies for the fund. For further details of this worthy fund, visit RxISK.org and click the Prize Fund Campaign button.